The present invention relates to dental suction apparatus for cleaning debris from the mouth during a dental procedure and more particularly to a particle collector for recovering precious metals.
During dental procedure it is necessary to remove debris which collects in the patient's mouth. Suction apparatus is used for this purpose. Silver constitutes a substantial portion of this debris and it is desirable to recover as much of this precious metal as possible in a relatively clean condition. It is known in the dental art to recover amalgam and heavier metal particles by a reservoir or trap connected in the suction line of an aspirator as shown in U.S. Patent to Ritchie, U.S. Pat. No. 3,777,403 issued Dec. 11, 1973. However, the known devices are designed to remain in service continuously during a dental procedure or for a longer period of time. The U.S. Patent to Wiley, U.S. Pat. No. 4,088,706, discloses a filter trap which is adapted to be readily removed and inserted. The Wiley patent utilizes a filter element to define the collection chamber and thus is limited in capacity to the capacity of the filter.
In the course of a dental procedure the aspirator is utilized to remove a mixture of tartar scraped from the teeth, tooth particles, bone, ground off tooth swarf, blood, blood clots, particles of cotton, saliva and other debris. A trap such as that shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,777,403 remains operative continuously and collects all of such debris. The largest portion of the excess silver amalgam can be recovered during the final stages of the filling procedure when the dentist has completed inserting the amalgam into a prepared cavity and is trimming the filling to produce a good anatomical shape. The cavity is overfilled to provide excess material so that the filling can be trimmed to a proper shape. During this stage the mouth is relatively clean of all debris except for saliva and amalgam. Thus if the amalgam collector can be limited to operation only during the above mentioned trimming operation, a relatively clean collection of amalgam and some saliva can be retained. This collection is more readily acceptable to silver refiners than is the amalgam mixed with bone, blood, particles of cotton and other debris.